Volunteering Resources

In connection with our sermon this weekend here are a couple of websites that are quite helpful / insightful. What Kind of Volunteer are you? (Globe and Mail) Are you a Type A, Rookie, or a Groupie Volunteer. Take this quiz and find out what kind of volunteer roles you are best suited for. This …

Relearning the Gospel

Martin Luther, in his Lecture on Galatians says,  “The truth of the gospel is the principle article of all Christian doctrine. Most necessary is that we know this article well, teach it to others, and beat it into their heads continually.” Luther was well known for theatrically overstated opinions.  I find this writing style encouraging, …

Our Inheritance

I was reading the parable of the Prodigal Son this week (Luke 15: 11 – 32) and the greatest insult of the younger son's request  is what is implied by the request. To ask for your inheritance now is wishing your father was dead. 'I wish you were dead so I could get on with …

King Jesus

As a minister my greatest challenge is to convince the people that I love and serve that the biggest problem in their life (whether they will believe it or not) is a theological one. Our biggest challenge in life is not our suffering, or how to cope when things don't go right. Our biggest problem …

A Once and For All Faith?

Within my tribe (Churches of Christ) and within other groups as well, there is a danger in reading  Jude verse 3 with an air of finality: "Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith …

Pictures of Egypt

Exile is an powerful metaphor for discontinuous change. Not a simple adaptive challenge like buying a bigger pair of pants because all your clothes shrank (go figure). Exile is finding yourself in a unfamiliar place where what used to work doesn't work anymore. Christians find themselves in exile these days. We are doing what we've …

Perception

I saw this image on line.  For those of my readers who are from my tribe (CofC) we best fit here among the evangelicals.

The Motivation of Evangelism

At a ministerial gathering last week I was part of a sobering conversation with my colleagues in ministry about how to deal with the struggle for institutional survival.  Most churches (though not all) are at least partially distracted by the concern that they are a few bad months from institutional death.  Whether the church is …

I Wish I Had Thought Of This

With four sons I don't know why this never occurred to me 😦 Spoiler alert for the two people on earth who haven't seen Star Wars Episode V.

Jesus: Head and Foot

Jesus: Head and Foot. What do we do when stories from different parts of the Bible don't agree?